The present invention relates to an accumulator which is mounted on a pipe and accumulates a liquid, and a fluid material discharge system.
Mainly in an automobile industry, a high pressure pump has been used for supplying a super high viscous liquid such as a sealing material to a dispenser. From a characteristic of such a high pressure pump, it is unavoidable that pulsation occurs in the discharged super high viscous liquid. In view of the above, there has been proposed a technique where an accumulator is disposed in front of a dispenser, and the flow having a high pressure and pulsation is converted into a fixed flow having a low pressure by temporarily accumulating the ultra high viscous liquid in the accumulator. In the case where an accumulator is used, there has been also known a technique where a liquid supplied from a high-pressure pump is directly discharged from the accumulator without using a dispenser.
Conventionally, there has been known an accumulator which is configured such that a pipe is connected to a communicating portion of a casing, and a piston which is biased by a spring is disposed in the inside of the casing (for example, see JP-A-2004-249243). In the accumulator having such a configuration, when a liquid pressure in the pipe is elevated, a liquid is collected in the casing against a biasing force of the spring, while when a liquid pressure in the pipe is lowered, the piston is moved due to a biasing force of the spring so that a liquid collected in the casing is discharged.
Further, as another accumulator, there has been known a so-called “first-in first-out type” accumulator. In such an accumulator, an inflow port and an outflow port are formed in a cylinder body. A liquid which flows into the inside of the cylinder body through the inflow port is pressed by a piston so that the liquid is made to flow out from the outflow port (for example, see JP-A-63-41688).